Saturday, April 28, 2007

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

The Doodle i did before starting the sculpture, somewhere in my head this guy came to the surface and it came to fruition as a sculpture. I think I need to do more personal projects, so how do I get paid that way? Anybody?

Monday, April 23, 2007

A few days ago I read on the Clubhouse forum about using a saw blade for a rake tool and man I had an old sawblade in the junk drawer. So i grabbed an exactoknife handle bent thesaw blade in a few spots and BAM! Instant rake tool for me.So here I'm using the rake tool on the Dragon's neck area to rough it up. Next I bake the whole thing once again , once it's cooled I add more Super Sculpey to the neck. I flesh it out and smooth it. then after that I 'Draw' the scales in with a needle type tool. It's the pointy light handled one on the tool pic.After that i try and give the scales some depth. By pressing in a kemper spoon tool in the front of each scale and leaving the rear it gives it that overlapped look and feel. After I hit that with a heat gun I toss it in the oven again and when it cools i clean up the scales . This is usually sanding with multiple grit papers...then using an exacto for any excess that's not cool scale details.

Sunday, April 22, 2007

I mostly use Super Sculpey, it's available in most Arts& Crafts stores and it's relatively cheaper than Waxes or Other Clays. Plus I LOVE it, it takes a little while and you can master it.Ok since I put this together for my action figure a few years back I'll use it.

I normally start with a loose sketch of the sculpt. It usually evolves greatly once you have the clay in your hands.

Then you make an armature , basically a skeletal support for the sculpture. I use a copper wire , but you could use a coathanger or any wire without plastic on it. Nothing too flexible though it has to support your sculpture , so the larger the figure the larger the gauge of wire should be.

here i have two wires that i merge on the 'spine' with a thinner wire. You have to think of the structure of your character. If it has 4 legs then design the skeleton to reflect that.

Next i rough in some clay once the armature is together and posed. this would be the same as doing basic shapes in a drawing. This stage can be a bit sloppy so don't worry if it's not coming out exactly as you want it. You can continue to refine as you go along. SS is great in that it does not air dry, it has to be exposed to heat to cure.

You may add details at this point, I like to do a pre-bake at around 250 degrees in my oven on a tin pan for about 15 minutes. Again depending on the thickness of your character, because small stuff will tend to burn of not monitored. Glass is ok too, just make sure it's not something you'll be eating off of in the future! Pre-bakes are good to make sure your sculpt doesn't crack because the center is fully cooked. That is dependant on the thickness of your sculpture. the thicker it is the more prebakes i recommend.with alot of work and patience you get closer to what you desire your sculpt to look like. More to come!